I have til the end of this year before my classes are over and then the externship will start in January. I am already a certified phlebotomist who went through hell with my clinicals,the person I was stuck with gave me a hard time and nothing was done about it. I am worried about that happening again and then the end result will be the same as before-no job. I applied everywhere and found nothing and had to enter a MA program. I am hearing the same thing about medical assisting as I did about phlebotomy,that it is a fast growing field and that there is a high demand for it,but I am skeptical. Can anyone be blunt and tell me what I can expect during and after the externship?

Are You Still In School? MA Student

I honestly think it depends on your location. I got a job right after I got my certification, and it was not at my place of externship. I was there for my 90 day orientation, and got offered another job for $1.50 more an hour. I have never been without a job as a CMA since , and it has been since 1993. I make more now than starting LPN's as well.

Are You Still In School? CMA/ RMA/ CMA

I am writing from Northeast Ohio. I am really curious about what is an externship like for a MA student. I got treated like dirt as a phleb student and certainly don't want to go through the same thing. I know it depends on where you go and who is overseeing you.

Are You Still In School? MA Student

Linda,

I'm in SW Pennsylvania. I had a 420 hour externship at a VERY busy family practice. We only have one doc but can see 40 pts. in an afternoon (he does rounds in the a.m.) The first day of my externship was BORING as I couldn't really DO anything. I think the second or third day there I started rooming patients. I did chart filing, pulling, answering phones, calling pt's back with answers to sick calls, etc. I'd say probably 85% of my externship was on the floor though, rooming patients, blood draws, allergy injections, urinalysis, etc.

I ended up staying at my externship site because one of their girls had just had a baby and wanted to go to two days a week and I only wanted three days a week anyway.

I was lucky to extern in an office where everyone is super helpful. They were really glad to have the extra help. Especially since I worked the floor most of the time (only one girl is on the floor, the other 3-4 are on phones, check-in, check-out). It could have been tough if it wasn't a fun place to work with people are really easy to get along with.

Lorraine

Are You Still In School? CMA

Everyone has different experiences with their schooling, externships, and employment that it is difficult to answer the question, "What can I really expect?" It depends on the climate of the office (the morale) and YOUR attitude.

My externship was AWESOME! I loved it! I can honestly say it was not only a terrific learning experience but it was a heck of a lot of fun! At the end of my "stay" I told the supervisor that I thoroughly enjoyed her staff and she told me two things: one, that she DID have a good group of people working with her and two, I made it a good experience for myself because I was OPEN to learning, kept my humor, and gave it all my best.

I don't know if that's the answer you're looking for - pretty vague. I know a few girls from school who had TERRIBLE externships, but ironically (or NOT!) they were also the gals in class who slacked off and complained about everything. It wasn't surprising that they had poor extern experiences. On the contrary, the gals who were positive, dedicated, and thoughtful as a student had great externships and many were hired right out of them!

So, good luck to you.... keep your chin up, learn all you can, be humble, and ENJOY!!!!

Take care, kim

Are You Still In School? Medical Assistant

When you get there, does someone tell you what to do? Or are you expected to just figure it out? I'm just nervous that I will be too slow.

Robyn

Are You Still In School? SMA

I see my post was answered with some concerns of her own. We are being told that on the first day you shadow another MA and that we are NEVER just left on our own until we are ready. I hope that will be true. Can anyone tell me otherwise? When I did my phlebotomy clinicals,I was left alone in the lab on my second day which was pretty bad.

Are You Still In School? SMA

When I did my externship, I followed an LPN (who was doing the same job as the MA's) for about 1/2 the day. The second 1/2, I was rooming patients alone, but I felt comfortable doing so. If I hadn't felt comfortable, I know I could have said so and it would have been totally fine. I did injections but I always another a staff member with me, double checking that it was drawn up correctly, etc. I never felt alone.

Now I'm on my first MA job and I'm still getting a lot of training and support. I'm with a large clinic organization, and they put me through THREE WEEKS of training! This was at their coorporate building. My first two weeks after that, in clinic, were still a lot of orientating and I shadowed someone (again) for the first 1/2 day.

There's a learning curve to all new professions, and I highly doubt any clinic would throw someone in alone who is in-experienced. It would be a dis-service to you as an employee, to the patients, and to the clinic itself.

Hope that helps!

Are You Still In School? MA

Thanks for the info Kim,it makes me feel a lot better. What happened to me in my phleb clinicals, in OBERLIN OHIO, was outrageous and I don't think will be repeated at my externship site,at a family practice. BUT,I heard that another phleb student had a hard time at the same place I was at,all from the same person. I like to think the Medical Assisting profession does not allow that kind of garbage to occur.

Are You Still In School? SMA